Developing Instructional Skills: Perspectives of Feedback in Student Teaching

Feedback is essential for the transformation and development of new teachers. This action research study explored perceptions of feedback givers/receivers in the development of essential teaching skills in a new co-teaching model. Outcomes informed programmatic changes to teacher education trainings and protocols. The research team included teacher education faculty, including the program leader (author 1), faculty (author 2) and K-12 teacher leader (author 3). Student teachers (6), cooperating teachers (7), and university supervisors (3) participated in semi-standard interviews and close-ended surveys. Responses were analyzed for feedback content, frequency, timing, effectiveness, reception and application. Three key components of the feedback process were identified: Goals (What), Relationship (How), and Effect (Change). The relationship between the student teacher receiving and the supervisor providing the feedback significantly influenced student teacher perception and application of feedback. Resulting programmatic changes include cooperating teacher selection criteria, co-teaching training, regular triad team meetings, and rubric-based feedback protocols

Effects of Messiness on Preferences for Simplicity

This research examines the effect of experiencing messiness, induced by a messy environment or by priming the concept of messiness, on consumers. We propose that messiness is an aversive state and consumers are motivated to attenuate this state by seeking simplicity in their cognitions, preferences, and choices. Six experiments support our theorizing. Experiments 1a-1c (conducted in the laboratory) and experiment 2 (conducted in the field) demonstrate that when messiness is salient, consumers form simpler product categorizations, are willing to pay more for a t-shirt with a simple picture, and seek less variety in their choices. Experiment 3 brings additional evidence for the underlying role of the need for simplicity by showing that when the need for simplicity is satiated, the effects of messiness disappear. A final experiment shows a boundary condition of the messiness effect: political conservatives are more susceptible to messiness primes compared to liberals

Responsiveness of PROMIS® to change in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

BackgroundChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive chronic disease characterized by airflow obstruction that leads to shortness of breath and substantial negative impacts on health-related quality of life (HRQL). The course of COPD includes periodic acute exacerbations that require changes in treatment and/or hospitalizations. This study was designed to examine the responsiveness of Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System® (PROMIS®) measures to changes associated with COPD exacerbation recovery.MethodsA longitudinal analysis using mixed-effects models was conducted of people who were enrolled while stable (n = 100) and those who experienced an acute exacerbation (n = 85). PROMIS (physical function, pain interference, pain behavior, fatigue, anxiety, depression, anger, social roles, discretionary social activities, Global Health, dyspnea severity and dyspnea functional limitations) and COPD-targeted HRQL measures were completed at baseline and at 12 weeks.ResultsWe administered PROMIS measures using computer adaptive testing (CAT), followed by administration of any remaining short form (SF) items that had not yet been administered by CAT. Examination of the difference between group differences from baseline to 12 weeks in the stable and exacerbation groups revealed that the exacerbation group changed (improved) significantly more than the stable group in anxiety (p < .001 to p < .01; f2 effect size [ES] = 0.023/0.021), fatigue (p < .0001; ES = 0.036/0.047) and social roles (p < .001 to p < .05; ES = 0.035/0.024). All effect sizes were small in magnitude and smaller than hypothesized. Depression was also statistically significant (p < .05, SF only) but the ES was trivial. For all other PROMIS domains, the differences were not significant and ES were trivial.ConclusionsThis longitudinal study provides some support for the validity of the PROMIS fatigue, anxiety, and social roles domains in COPD, but further evaluation of responsiveness is warranted

How to Make a Better-Informed Go-No-Go Decision in Oncology Trials Using Tumor Measurement Data and Beyond

In this paper, we discussed new methods to summarize clinical efficacy data. The method is called “Trajectory and their corresponding non-missing Proportions Plot (TPP). The method focuses on the conditional mean response, condition on that the data are non-missing, and the proportion of non-missing, overtime. This graph is proposed for all trials to assess the treatment effect and dropout pattern across all time points. These two parameters are jointly used to access the treatment effect to answer a particular question about effectiveness that reduces the ambiguity of phrasing in federal regulations. It will be seen that it requires both parameters to conclude that one treatment is better than other at a particular time point. The first parameter is obvious, while the second parameter is from the belief that the proportion of non-missing from the more effective treatment (A) should not be less than that of the less effective treatment (B) to conclude that A is better than B. Another way to put this is: to conclude A is better than B, we should not know less about A than B. From the parameters defined above, the missing proportions are an integral and intrinsic part of our data and are used in assessing non-missing probability. The non-missing proportion overtime reflects the reality in practice and is a very important information for stakeholders. The paper focuses on using the approach in making go-no-go decision in oncology proof-of-concept trials

Crossing the Brown Dwarf Desert Using Adaptive Optics: A Very Close L-Dwarf Companion to the Nearby Solar Analog HR 7672

We have found a very faint companion to the active solar analog HR 7672 (HD 190406; GJ 779; 15 Sge). Three epochs of high resolution imaging using adaptive optics (AO) at the Gemini-North and Keck II Telescopes demonstrate that HR 7672B is a common proper motion companion, with a separation of 0.79" (14 AU) and a 2.16 um flux ratio of 8.6 mags. Using follow-up K-band spectroscopy from Keck AO+NIRSPEC, we measure a spectral type of L4.5+/-1.5. This is the closest ultracool companion around a main sequence star found to date by direct imaging. We estimate the primary has an age of 1-3 Gyr. Assuming coevality, the companion is most likely substellar, with a mass of 55-78 Mjup based on theoretical models. The primary star shows a long-term radial velocity trend, and we combine the radial velocity data and AO imaging to set a firm (model-independent) lower limit of 48 Mjup. In contrast to the paucity of brown dwarf companions at <~4 AU around FGK dwarfs, HR 7672B implies that brown dwarf companions do exist at separations comparable to those of the giant planets in our own solar system. Its presence is at variance with scenarios where brown dwarfs form as ejected stellar embryos. Moreover, since HR 7672B is likely too massive to have formed in a circumstellar disk as planets are believed to, its discovery suggests that a diversity of physical processes act to populate the outer regions of exoplanetary systems.Comment: Astrophysical Journal, in pres

Evaluation of mRNA markers for estimating blood deposition time : towards alibi testing from human forensic stains with rhythmic biomarkers

This study was supported by grant 27.011.001 by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) Forensic Science Program, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, by the EU 6th Framework project EUCLOCK (018741), UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Grant BB/I019405/1, and by a previous grant from the Netherlands Genomics Initiative (NGI)/Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) within the framework of the Forensic Genomics Consortium Netherlands (FGCN). D.J.S. is a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award holder.Determining the time a biological trace was left at a scene of crime reflects a crucial aspect of forensic investigations as - if possible - it would permit testing the sample donor's alibi directly from the trace evidence, helping to link (or not) the DNA-identified sample donor with the crime event. However, reliable and robust methodology is lacking thus far. In this study, we assessed the suitability of mRNA for the purpose of estimating blood deposition time, and its added value relative to melatonin and cortisol, two circadian hormones we previously introduced for this purpose. By analysing 21 candidate mRNA markers in blood samples from 12 individuals collected around the clock at 2 h intervals for 36 h under real-life, controlled conditions, we identified 11 mRNAs with statistically significant expression rhythms. We then used these 11 significantly rhythmic mRNA markers, with and without melatonin and cortisol also analysed in these samples, to establish statistical models for predicting day/night time categories. We found that although in general mRNA-based estimation of time categories was less accurate than hormone-based estimation, the use of three mRNA markers HSPA1B, MKNK2 and PER3 together with melatonin and cortisol generally enhanced the time prediction accuracy relative to the use of the two hormones alone. Our data best support a model that by using these five molecular biomarkers estimates three time categories, i.e., night/early morning, morning/noon, and afternoon/evening with prediction accuracies expressed as AUC values of 0.88, 0.88, and 0.95, respectively. For the first time, we demonstrate the value of mRNA for blood deposition timing and introduce a statistical model for estimating day/night time categories based on molecular biomarkers, which shall be further validated with additional samples in the future. Moreover, our work provides new leads for molecular approaches on time of death estimation using the significantly rhythmic mRNA markers established here.PostprintPeer reviewe

How Low Nucleation Density of Graphene on CuNi Alloy is Achieved

CuNi alloy foils are demonstrated to be one of the best substrates for synthesizing large area single-crystalline graphene because a very fast growth rate and low nucleation density can be simultaneously achieved. The fast growth rate is understood to be due the abundance of carbon precursor supply, as a result of the high catalytic activity of Ni atoms. However, a theoretical understanding of the low nucleation density remains controversial because it is known that a high carbon precursor concentration on the surface normally leads to a high nucleation density. Here, the graphene nucleation on the CuNi alloy surfaces is systematically explored and it is revealed that: i) carbon atom dissolution into the CuNi alloy passivates the alloy surface, thereby drastically increasing the graphene nucleation barrier; ii) carbon atom diffusion on the CuNi alloy surface is greatly suppressed by the inhomogeneous atomic structure of the surface; and iii) a prominent increase in the rate of carbon diffusion into the bulk occurs when the Ni composition is higher than the percolation threshold. This study reveals the key mechanism for graphene nucleation on CuNi alloy surfaces and provides a guideline for the catalyst design for the synthesis of graphene and other 2D materials

Two New Candidate Planets in Eccentric Orbits

Doppler measurements of two G-type main-sequence stars, HD210277 and HD168443, reveal Keplerian variations that imply the presence of companions with masses (M sin i) of 1.28 and 5.04 M_Jup and orbital periods of 437 d and 58 d, respectively. The orbits have large eccentricities of e=0.45 and e=0.54, respectively. All 9 known extrasolar planet candidates with a=0.2-2.5 AU have orbital eccentricities greater than 0.1, higher than that of Jupiter (e=0.05). Eccentric orbits may result from gravitational perturbations imposed by other orbiting planets or stars, by passing stars in the dense star-forming cluster, or by the protoplanetary disk. Based on published studies and our near-IR adaptive optics images, HD210277 appears to be a single star. However, HD168443 exhibits a long-term velocity trend consistent with a close stellar companion, as yet undetected directly.Comment: AASTeX, 31 pages including 10 Postscript figures, to appear in the Astrophysical Journal (July 1999